Machine for bundling or compressing broom-corn and the like.



J. -15". FOLEY. MACHINE FOR BUNDLING 0R GOMPBESSING BROOM CORN AND THE LIKE. APPLIUATION FILED MAY 22, 1908.

958,866. Patented May 24, 1910.

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J. F. FOLEY.

MACHINE FOR BUNDLING OR- GOMPBESSING BROOM 001m AND THE LIKE.

APPLIGATION FILED MAY 22, 1908.

Patented May 24, 1910.

2 SHEETS-$112111 2.

JAMES F. FOLEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR BUNDLING OR GOMPRESSING BROOM-CORN AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 24, 1910.

Application filed May 22, 1908. Serial No. 434,216.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES F. FOLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Bundling or Compressing Broom-Corn and the Like, of which the following is a speci fication.

This invention relates to machines for bundling or compressing broom corn and the like, of the class more particularly shown and described in my Patent No. 869,358, granted October 29, 1907, and the primary object of the invention is to provide an improved, simple and efiicient machine of this character for bundling broom corn and the like and for compressing the same to the desired density.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved machine of the described character in which the flexible members employed in compressing the bundle may be used to become the permanent binder or bale tie of the bundle or bale.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved machine in which the flexible members used for compressing and binding the bundle or bale may meet or cross at an accessible part of the bundle in order that the same may be convenient for tying.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved sheave or drum for receiving a quantity of the flexible material as steel wire, used in tying and compressing the bundles.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved controlling means for the drums supporting the flexible material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a main frame or compressing chamber of an improved construction whereby a symmetrical bale or bundle may be secured.

A still further object of the invention is to provide improved means for adjustably securing the end walls or end gates of the compressing chamber in position.

To the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of other new and useful objects as will appear, the invention consists in the features of novelty in the construction, combination and arrangement of the several parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and shown in the accompanying drawings, illustrating an exemplification of the invention, and in which Figure 1 is an end elevation of an improved machine of the character described, embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view with parts broken away, and is designed to show the construction of the compressing chamber and particularly the formation of the bottom and the construction of the adjustable end members or gates. Fig. 4: is a detail view in section taken on line l-l Fig. 2, illustrating the construction of the arm for supporting the sheave and for furnishing a guide way for the wire at the upper side corner of the compression chamber. Fig. 5 is a detail taken on line 55, Fig. 2, while Fig. 6 is likewise a detail taken on line 66 of the same figure. Fig. 7 is a section on line 7-7 of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is an enlarged broken section on line 88 of Fig. 2. Fig. 9 is a broken detail of one corner of one of the adjustable end gates. Fig. 10 is a reduced view of a form of brace that may be utilized in securing rigidity of the main frame during the operation of compressing the bundle.

A compression chamber of substantially the form and construction illustrated in my patent above referred to, and in the drawing herewith is preferably provided, and this is usually of the desired size to hold a single bundle or bale of broom corn or other material to be compressed and bound. This chamber is open at the top and may have bottom side members 10, 11 and bottom end members 12, 13. To the bottom frame thus formed four corner uprights may be secured as indicated by the reference character 14, and these corner posts are connected at the top by upper side members 15, 16. This completes the boX or chamber except for the ends and sides. The sides are preferably left partly open and may be closed by suitable metallic or wooden strips, which are not shown in the drawings and form n0 essential part of the present invention. The ends are closed by gates 17, 18, which are removably secured to the compression cham ber and are also secured in such a manner that they are longitudinally adjustable, in order that the length of the compression chamber may be varied to accommodate the chamber to difierent lengths of material to be compressed, or in order that the chamber I maybe set or gaged to make bales or bundles of varying lengths.

The end gates 17, 18 may be adjustably secured to the frame in any desired manner, but a convenient way of accomplishing this result is illustrated and consists in securing hinged members 19 to the upper four corners of the compression chamber. The movable leaves of'the hinges 19 are provided with a plurality of spaced holes which are adapted to take pins 20 at the top corners of the end gates. Corresponding pins 21 are secured along the bottom of the chamber, and are adapted to cooperate with holes formed in the lower edges of the end gates. By this construction the pivoted leaves of the hinges 19 may be raised, which permits of the end gates being readily inserted in position and also permits them to be readily removed when it is desired to remove the bale after compressing it.

A bottom is formed in the compression chamber preferably of strips of wood 22, which are spaced a slight distance apart and extend transversely between the bottom side members 10, 11, and are depressed near the middle of the compression chamber, as shown in Fig. 3, to form a trough or receptacle for the material to be compressed in order that the chamber may more nearly conform to the shape of the bundle of material before it is compressed. Broom corn is formed for compression into bundles by having the heads overlap and the butt ends of the stalks projecting outwardly and forming the ends of the bundle. This produces a gavel or bundle much thicker in the middle than at the ends, thus giving the gavel the shape of a barrel. When the gavel is formed on a flat bottom, the upper side of it receives the excess of the material at the middle, and when compressed into a bale, such a gavel will be flat on one side, or nearly so, and will receive so much of the excess on the opposite side that the resulting bale is not symmetrical and the ends are apt to be irregular on this account. Giving the bottom of the compress'on chamber the shape herein shown obviates this difiiculty.

The bottom transverse strips 22 with the open spaces between them are preferably so arranged that these open spaces appear just opposite the drums which support the flexible material for compressing and tying the bales. This enables the flexible material to be manipulated around the gavel or bundle while the bale is being formed without friction, and also permits the ready placing of the compression members around the gavel or bundle preparatory to compressing and tying. Along one side of the compression chamber, and preferably nearer the bottom of the chamber than the top, is journaled the shaft 23 which supports the drums for carryteases ing the compression and binding wire, and around which the wire or flexible members are wound to produce the desired tension on the gavel or bundle. This shaft is supported in suitable brackets 24, 25 secured to the compression chamber, and adjacent the shaft between the corner posts is a longitudinal member 26 which serves as a convenient means for the attachment of the means for controlling the winding drums, as well as serving incidentally to strengthen the walls of the compression chamber.

Any desired number of compression drums may be employed. It is common to use about five of them, and the number will depend upon the number of compression members or binding members desired on the bale. In the present embodiment of the invention five such drums are shown, each of such drums being indicated by the reference character 27, and as they are duplicates, a description of one of them is suflicient. Each drum is preferably provided with flanges 28, 29 of considerable depth for the purpose of enabling a quantity of wire or other compression and binding material to be supported thereby. The outer periphery of the flange 28 is smooth, while ratchet teeth are provided in the periphery of the flange 29. A convenient manner of forming these drums is to cast them, and they may be cored so that the holes for insertion on the shaft are supplied with very little or no machine work. Each drum is secured on shaft 23 so that it may freely rotate thereon, and yet may not have movement longitudinally on the shaft. This result may be accomplished by coring out an enlargement as indicated at 30, and into this enlargement a suitable block 31 may be inserted and secured to shaft 23 by the threaded screw or pin 32 to be inserted through the hole 33 in the drum. Extending beyond the flange on one end of the drum are a plurality of clutch teeth 34 adapted to cooperate with similar teeth 011 the clutch member 35. Clutch member 35 is secured to shaft 23 so that it rotates at all times therewith, but is also capable of longitudinal movement on the shaft so that it may be engaged or disengaged from the teeth 34 on the drums 27. No means for rotatably securing the clutch member 35 to the shaft is illustrated, since this forms no part of the invention, and any suitable means for this purpose may be employed. Each drum 27 is provided with its corresponding clutch member 35, and each of the clutch members are controlled by suitable shipper levers 36, pivoted at one end of a bracket 26 on longitudinal member 26, their free ends extending outwardly from the compression chamber and being provided with a handle 36 conveniently accessible to the operator.

In Fig. l the preferred form of arranging the compression members or binding wires is shown, the wire being illustrated by the reference character 37 extending from the winding drums upwardly over suitable de flecting sheaves, thence across the top of the gavel or bundle to the opposite side of the compression chamber, thence downwardly and around the gavel or bundle, and being secured to a suitable link or other flexible member 38, which is fixed to the wall of the compression chamber, farthest removed from the winding drums and near the top of said wall, being secured in the longitudinal member 15. The link 38 is preferably formed of a round rod or wire of metal, and has a hook 39 at its free end into which the flexible members or wires may be secured. An eye 40 is formed on the other end of the link and is secured to an eye-bolt 41. The advantage of the hooked link, 38 will be apparent, since it will be seen that it makes it unnecessary to extend the flexible member or wire to the wall, and as the bale is tied where the strands of the flexible member or wire cross or parallel each other at the top of the bundle or gavel, it will be seen that this link prevents waste of the wire or other flexible material used, since, if it were not employed, that portion from the intersection of the strands to the point of the securement of the wire to the wall of the chamber would be wasted. It will be seen that this also puts the intersecting strands of the wire at a convenient place for tying, and after the bundle is given the desired compression by means of tension placed upon the flexible material or wire by the rotation of drums 27 on shaft 23, the wire may be tied, or the lapped ends secured together in any desired manner, after which the ties may be severed from the main body of the wire or other flexible material wound around the drum.

An ordinary linemans ratchet sleeve wrench is found convenient for twisting the ends of the ties together before severing from the supply of material on the drum. The preferred form of tool, however, for accomplishing this purpose is my bale tie device for which application for United States Letters Patent was filed June 7, 1909, Serial No. 500,534.

As before stated, it is preferred that wire be used for the flexible members, as it is of sufiicient strength to produce the desired l compression, and may then be used as a permanent bale t1e. In order that the wire may be handled most advantageously, the sheaves 42 along the upper side of the chamber which serve to deflect the wire before it passes over into the interior of the chamber are journaled in brackets 43 which may be secured to the upper cross member 16 in any desired manner, as by screws 44, and in order to hold the wire in contact with the sheaves 42 at all times, and particularly when the tension on the wire is released, the bracket 43 is so formed that the wire may be slightly deflected before reaching the sheave by being passed through an opening in the bracket and under a lip or guide 45. An eyelet or guide-way 46 is also preferably provided on the upper portion of the bracket 48 through which the wire is threaded after leaving the sheave, which tends to hold the wire or compression chamber and to prevent the same from being thrown off the drum by the recoil of the wire when the same is severed at a point beyond the eyelet or guideway after the wire has been drawn tightly around the bundle and fastened. The construction of the drums 27 and the clutch members 35 for controlling each of said drums have already been referred to. As pointed out in my prior patent, to which reference has already been made, this separate control of the winding drums enables different degrees of tension to be placed upon the various compression members. In order that each drum when once rotated to place a tension upon the wire or other compression member secured thereto may be locked so that the tension may not be released, a gravity pawl 47 pivotally secured to a suitable bracket 48 on the cross member 26 is provided for the toothed flange before referred to on each of the drums. Pawl 47 is provided with a detent 47 which engages the teeth on said flange of the drums. In the handling of the wire on the drums, it is found necessary to provide means to prevent the drums when released from rotating in the direction opposite to that controlled by gravity pawls 47. This control is preferably in the nature of a friction brake, and is secured by means of the member 49 pivoted at 50 to the bracket 51, which is secured to member 26. The pivoted member 49 is preferably provided at its upper and free end with a suitable frictional surface or shoe 49 adapted to bear against the periphery of the smooth flange on the drums. A constant pressure of this frictional bearing surface on the flange of the drum is secured by means of a suitable spring 52 interposed between the member 49 and a bracket 53 secured on member 26.

When the gavel or bundle is in position and the compression members are receiving the tension designed to be placed upon them by means of the rotation of the drums, it will be seen that the strain of compressing the gavel will tend to force the side walls of the compression chamber at the top toward each other. This may be overcome in part by the bracing of the chamber due to the end members of gates 17, 18, but in order to further strengthen the side walls of the chamber, suitable removable braces may be employed as illustrated in reduced form in Fig. 10 and indicated by the reference character 54:, the same being shown in position in dotted lines in Fig. 1.

55 is a gear secured to shaft 28, and this gear is turned by Worm Wheel 56 in mesh with it, said worm wheel being attached to shaft 57 journaled in bracket 24. One end of shaft 57 is squared to take a suitable wrench or handle, and by this construction it will be seen that great leverage may be secured in compressing the bundle. In winding spools of wire or other flexible material on the drums, it is desirable that they may be rotated rapidly in order to expedite the work. This may be accomplished by moving the worm wheel 56 out of mesh with gear 55. Shaft 57 is journaled in bracket 24; in order to permit such a movement of worm wheel 56 and when the worm Wheel is disengaged from the gear, the wrench may be put on the squared end of shaft 23 for rotating the drum.

In order that the invention might be understood, the details of the preferred form of embodiment thereof have been thus specifically described, but

\Vhat I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described in combination, a compression chamber provided with an open top and having a bottom support and spaced upright side members within which the bundle or gavel is adapted to be placed for compressing and binding, a drum, a flexible compressing and binding member, and means for deflecting the compressing and binding member between the drum and bundle or gavel whereby the strands of the said member encircling the bundle or gavel are brought together for tying on the surface of the bundle or gavel remote from the spaced upright side members and accessible through the open top of the chamber.

2. In a device of the character described in combination, a compression chamber comprising a supporting bottom, spaced upright side members, and an open top, a flexible member for compressing and binding a bundle or gavel within the chamber, a Winding drum for controlling and compressing the binding member, means secured to one of the spaced upright side members near the top thereof through which the compressing and binding member is threaded into the chamber adjacent the upright or open top thereof, and means secured to the other of said spaced upright side members adjacent the top of the chamber for temporarily holding the free end of the compressing and binding member in a position for tying over the compression chamber and remote from the spaced upright side members.

3. In a device of the character described in combination, a compression chamber comprising a supporting bottom and side walls and being provided with an open top, a

winding drum, a flexible compression and binding member adapted to be Wound on said drum, means through which the flexible member is threaded into the compression chamber adjacent the open top thereof, and means secured to the side Walls of the compression chamber adapted to temporarily hold the free end of the compression member at a point for tying adjacent the open.

top of the compression chamber and remote from the walls thereof.

4. In a device of the character described in combination, a support for the bundle or gavel, a compression member, means for putting a tension upon the compression member, means for deflecting the compression member whereby it is caused to become tangent to the exterior of the bundle or gavel at a point re mote from the bottom thereof, and means secured to the support to which the free end of the compression member is adapted to be secured, said means comprising a member to which the free end of the compression member may be secured adjacent the point where the strands encircling the gavel or bundle are adapted to approach and cross each other, said member being adapted to be folded out of the way of the support during the placing of the material in the support in forming the bundle or gavel.

5. In a device of the character described in combination, a compression chamber, a flexible compression member, a drum on which said flexible member is adapted to be wound, means for rotating said drum and means for securing the free end of the flexible member, said means comprising a hooked link pivotally secured to a wall of the compression chamber whereby the hooked end of the link is adapted to hold the free end of the flexible member adjacent the top of the compression chamber and remote from the Walls thereof and adjacent the point where the strands of the compression memher are adapted to approach each other in encircling the gavel or bundle.

6. In a device of the character described in combination, a compression chamber comprising fixed side supporting members, a fixed bottom support comprising a plurality of members extending transversely between the sides of the chamber, the members near the middle of the bottom portion of the chamber being depressed below the plane of the members near the ends of the cham ber, a compression member, and means for exerting a tension on said compression member.

7 In a device of the character described in combination, a compression chamber, the bottom of said chamber inclining downwardly from the sides thereof toward the center, a compression member, means for exerting .tension on the compression member, and end gates in said compression chamber adjustably secured thereto for varying the length of said chamber.

8. In a device of the character described in combination, a compression chamber comprising a fixed bottom support and spaced upright side supports between which the bundle or gavel is adapted to be placed for compression, a flexible compression and binding member adapted to be threaded through one of said spaced upright side supports into the said compression and binding chamber adjacent the top thereof, means secured to the other of said spaced upright side supports for securing the free end of the compression member adjacent the top of the chamber, means for exerting a tension on the compression member, and a removable brace adapted for insertion between the said spaced upright side members of the compression chamber.

9. In a device of the character described in combination, a compression chamber, a winding drum secured to the chamber on the exterior thereof, a flexible compression member adapted to be carried by the said drum, a deflecting sheave on the wall of the chamber adapted to deflect the said flexible compression member whereby it is caused to enter the chamber adjacent the top thereof, means remote from the chamber walls for securing the free end of the flexible compression member within the chamber adjacent the point where the compression member is adapted to be tied, and means for controlling the said winding drum comprising a member adapted to exert friction on the periphery of the drum.

10. In a device of the character described in combination, a compression chamber, a rotatable shaft carrying a drum, there being a groove on the interior of the drum surrounding said shaft, and a lug removably secured to the shaft whereby the said drum is free to rotate on the said shaft, but is prevented from having longitudinal movement thereon, a flexible compression member carried by the drum, means for rotating the drum and means within the compression chamber for securing the free end of the flexible member.

11. In a device of the character described, the combination of a compression chamber, a flexible compression and binding member extending into the chamber from the outside thereof, a deflecting sheave on the wall of g the chamber over which the flexible member passes, an eye support adjacent but spaced from the sheave and through which the flexible member passes from the sheave, said flexible member being adapted to be passed around a bundle, means for securing one end of the flexible member within the chamber adjacent the point where the ends thereof are adapted to be secured together to bind the bundle, a drum 'on the outside of the chamber around which the other end of the flexible member is adapted to be wound, and means for operating the drum to separate the ends of the flexible member for exerting a tension thereon and compressing the bundle, said eye serving to prevent the displacement of the flexible member from the drum by the recoil of the flexible member when the latter is severed at a point within the chamber.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 15th day of May A. D. 1908.

JAMES F. FOLEY.

Witnesses:

A. L. SPRINKLE, M. W. CANTW'ELL. 

